Blunt: Democrats ready to "pack and go home" on energy

Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt criticized the Democratic majority for its lack of action on the nation's energy woes. The following statement was issued by Blunt's office:

"For the third time in as many weeks, Democrats decided to bring an energy bill to the floor under a set of rules they knew would prevent its passage. But passing a genuine energy bill was never part of the plan today; denying their own members – as well as ours – a chance to bring forth real energy amendments was.

"The substance of the bill was no better than the way it was handled on the floor. Most stunning was the fact that Democrats were prepared to give themselves five years to replace the oil they tried to ‘swap out’ today. Never mind that it’d take less time to set up the infrastructure needed to produce real, long-term relief for American consumers – finally unlocking the billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of gas that remain off-limits thanks to Congress.

"The American people expect and deserve more from this Congress than the Band-Aid-over-a-bullet-hole approach we voted on today. They expect a real energy policy that takes meaningful steps to bring down prices at the pump, while lessening our dangerous dependence on foreign oil and building a bridge to an alternative energy future.

"That’s exactly what they got this week in the American Energy Act, which Republicans introduced yesterday. Now it will be up to Democratic leadership to gather up the courage to allow an up-or-down vote on the floor. And we’ll be happy to stay through August until we get it done."